Dirty Old Musical (Spotlight Artists Centre)

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One-hit wonder the Bench Boys are forced to reunite for a benefit concert to raise funds for hospitalized member Bebong (Ricky Davao). A lot has changed since their only hit song charted 30 years ago. Eugene (Robert Seña) lives a quiet family life as an accountant. Greggy (Bo Cerrudo) becomes an alcoholic after his wife leaves him for a doctor. Stanley (Carlo Orosa) now calls himself Stephanie. Spanky (Nonie Buencamino) is still living the bachelor life dating a girl half his age. Freddie (Jett Pangan) comes back from Seattle with arrogance and grudges in tow. A young musical ingenue is tapped to be the overall musical director of the show. Pro-bono. The son of Rose (Ima Castro), he never knew his father, which might be one of the members of the band after all. As they bask in their glory days and bemoan the inevitable signs of getting old, the life of their friend depends on their ability to come up with a united plan despite their differences.

Magsimula Ka (Spotlight Artists Centre)

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The musical starts with a mini concert for the finals of a singing competition called Philipop. Isay Alvarez, Jamie Rivera, Rito Asilo, Jenine Desiderio and Bicong del Rosario sing solos for the audience and end the performance with an ensemble piece. Some of them were part of the original cast of Magsimula Ka.

The show tackles the very typical theme of ambition and reaching for your dreams. What makes it different then? The musical is in Filipino, and it is just a breath of fresh air to see something like it. I have seen almost a dozen musicals this year, and none of them were in Tagalog. Here is an original Filipino production, and a very lively one at that. The venue and the language make the event more intimate for the audience. It is also because of this that the entire thing looks like a cross between a musical and a comedy bar performance, which is actually good because the audience was obviously enjoying every moment.